Dear Ma

The sound of a plane that's come to landing

And in a nearly empty room of arrivals I find myself standing

The electronic board lights up and tells me the passengers are disembarking 

And I'm reminded of a feeling of longing and wanting

To embrace a woman my whole life I've been loving 

In mere minutes, that once empty hall is filled with  a hundred eager eyes 

And in a myriad of faces, I catch hers

And my once empty heart is filled with a hundred fireflies

I held her hand, soft as creamy butter, as the perfect mold of dough 

And I wondered where did all those 50 something years go

And where she managed to draw the strength to combat her sorrow 

Being away from her family to fight the war waged for a bright tomorrow  

I look at her face, artificially whitened from years of radiation yet filled with a youthful shine 

Her worries and doubts she held clandestine

Replaced it with courage, so a good education would be mine 

And I wondered how through all those hardships, she managed to hold her beauty like a rare bottle of wine

I graze her thinning black hair, 

Covered by a black veil with each passing day

For nearly 3 decades in the desert, where women barely had a say 

She lived a life of restriction, prohibition and isolation

That we in turn would have free ideas and lives filled with liberation 

As a little girl I never understood why she never read me to sleep

Why when I grazed my knee she wouldn't let me weep

Why there were promises she couldn't keep

Why phrases like I love you or words of affection would almost never seep

Then as an adolescent, I would resent

Why of most things I asked for, it would take ages for her to bend 

Making me toil arduously before a reward, became a trend 

Why, to farewells, there never seemed to be an end 

I just couldn't fathom that although it was shown in a way that was different and difficult for a young one to comprehend 

It didn't mean her love was less or that it did not transcend

It was not of dramatic expression or burning passion

But it was a love of epic proportion

I deciphered that her never uttering the words "I'm sorry,"

Was not tantamount to never making an apology

Her barely ever saying she was proud of me 

Did not mean she didn't adore me with so much gravity 

The sound of a car that's come to a stall

Slowly, we make our steps to the departure hall

And I'm reminded of a familiar feeling, strong as a squall

That again my mother is leaving, I could never get used to at all 

But Im also reminded of a feeling of exalting for a love that was many ways unconventional

That love isn't always one-dimensional but she gave me a kind that was essentially unconditional